Cocoa is leaning against the side of a building, playing Bejeweled again. 

"Alright, from here we just jog in. Keep your eyes and ears open - I'll be heading towards the strongest concentration of cigarette smoke, but that could just be someone, you know, smoking, so..."

"Right."

And this is a docks area, which she's familiar with, except it's a big city version. There's parks and apartment buildings right up next to the water, and there are those huge cranes that do container ship loading behind a fence across the water. She's not as at home here as she would like. Cities always make her a bit uncomfortable. At least that helps with the 'lookout' part as she glances around anxiously.

A work crew is coordinatiing the unloading of a container ship, but otherwise the place is fairly quiet. The sun is beginning to set.

Cocoa jogs confidently past the work crew and towards a warehouse complex on the other side.

Look like you know where you're going. She knows where she's going. This is a dockyard and she's a sailor. These places run skeleton crews anyway, she thinks, just a couple of crane operators and a few guys on the ground handling paperwork. There should be hardly anyone here, really. Anyone paying attention to them, though?

One of the guys handling paperwork looks up and notices her, but he just goes right back to his paperwork.

They round the corner of the warehouse complex, and discover... a dockworker taking a smoke break. 

Cocoa passes the dockworker at a jog, then pauses at the entrance of another warehouse, "catching his breath." 

"I was afraid of that. I hope it's not Break Hour."

"Honestly, at least he's doing it out here. Away from anything that could catch fire."

She's practically radiating anxiousness, but at the same time, she knows these sorts of places and that's visible in her body language, too.

"Any idea what a dog-thing might want?"

"It's been hassling the workers here, so it must be something they have. Some fish went missing, maybe it's hungry? I don't know why it's bothering people though, you'd think there'd be safer ways of getting food. Maybe it just enjoys scaring the muggles."

"Hmm. If it were hungry, I think it'd go for dumpsters? Maybe it came in on one of the containers, or it's looking for something that's in one of them? Lost and confused?"

"Maybe lost, yeah, but it'd be smart enough to take cues from the workers. It might even be able to take demi-human form if it's third rank or higher. And it hasn't been caught outright, which implies some cunning."

"...Is it cunning plan time yet or should we look normally some more first?"

"Let's hear your cunning plan."

"One of us makes an obvious show - calling out for it, flaring qi, something like that. The other hides nearby and watches likely hiding or stalking spots for when it gets curious and sniffs around."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's -"

Something barks, deep and basso, and the worker from earlier goes past at a dead run, looking like he's seen a ghost.

When they turn to look, there's a black fox the size of a bear standing there. It steps forwards to where the worker was - his cigarette is still lying on the ground - and barks again. 

How is something that big that sneaky.

She glances at Black Claw.

Black Claw has pulled a knife from his jacket and is holding still in a combat stance. 

"Don't make me hurt you. We can talk this through."

The fox chuffs, and blinks once. 

Then, it starts to shrink. Once it gets down to about person-sized, the joints realign and the whole body twists. Most of its fur melts away, leaving behind...

A dark-haired woman, completely nude, with black fox ears and a black fox tail. Her nails are long and sharp. She stoops to the ground, picks up the still-lit cigarette, brings it to her mouth and takes a drag. 

"I don't recognize you two. Thought I knew every cultivator around here. All of them too weak to give me a real fight. But you, with the knife - you look like you could maybe be a challenge." 

She tosses her hair. "Get on with it, I don't have all day."

Okay. Hostility.

She will...

Back away slowly, both hands in her jacket pockets. One on her tin of pills, the other putting on her brass knuckles.

If Black Claw is forced into a fight and seems to be losing...

'You could hurt me with that. You'd need better form and some more training, but I see the potential.'

...She can eat a qi and blood pill, charge in and at least be a distraction, give him a moment to recover before bracing for fury. The black fox is probably faster than her so she can't plan on landing a kick unless she's very distracted. It'll have to be the weaker punches- Though she does have the brass knuckles.

Cocoa holds. "What do you want? Why have you been attacking the workers?"

She takes a step to the side, circling into the warehouse. "I need my smokes. Do I look like I can just go into a seven-eleven and buy a pack?"

'Maybe if you didn't attack people' 'Hey, I do alright, people have seen weirder' 'So if someone got you smokes you'd stop fucking with people?'

She should say something. But all of these might trigger a fight. Maybe the fox would leave them with just a beating-

-Vast jaws closing on her, flinging her to the side with terrible ripping force-

Or decide to murder them. A fight she might not survive. Or that Cocoa might not survive.

She should do something. Say something. Right? Or is Cocoa handling it? He'd better because Trys doesn't. Seem. To. Be. Doing. Anything. Locked in place, deep frown and steely eyes.